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When I was there the ADN & LPN programs were one in the same. You had the option to stop after the 1st year. I have one friend who did that, but everyone else continued on. You also have the option to take your LPN boards even if you are continuing on in the ADN program. A lot of my classmates did this. I did not. I made more as an ophthalmology technician than I would as an LPN, but it is a good option and helped a lot of my classmates get better jobs the 2nd year of school. People who either stop after the 1st year or fail a class are how they come up with spots the 2nd year for LPNs to complete their ADNs. Hope this helps.

Sure my personal email is [email protected]

Probably in March. I just remember one other question you had asked. I have no children so I don't have any advise on how to handle that, but a lot of my classmates. Most of them were married with very helpful husbands & wives. Have a good weekend, hopefully you'll get to do something fun. If you think of any others questions let me know. Erin

Marisa, What a bummer. I live in Jefferson county so that will kind of such for people around here to. I wonder if that means people in Jefferson Co. will now start getting perferntial treatment to attend MATCs program @ Fort Atkinson. I thought of something else to tell you about Herzing. Your tuition includes most of your books the rest you get as loaners and can purchase them for like 75% off the cover price. So our Med/Surg, maternal & peds books and Nursing Assesment books we didn't have to pay for and some of those books are a couple hundered dollars. Off sets the high price a little bit. Good Luck, Erin

I'm an ophthalmology nurse, specifically retina. One of my others degrees is optometric technician form MATC. I worked for the same doctors I work for now as a certifed ophthalmic technician for 7 years prior to becoming an RN for them so I'm pretty comitted to staying in the specialty. I left for 6 mos just after finishing my RN (this is when I was in Appleton), hated it and then was like "what am I doing I loved the job I had" I'm very fortunate that they took me back and I lost no senority. I was in the very first class of nurses Herzing had so I was in the class the you here all the hub-bub about. It pretty much boiled down to the upper officals in the organization being clueless. They thought that because they had their approval from the state of WI they were good to go. It wasn't until about 2 months before we graduated that they realized it was really a huge deal that they had not completed their NLN accreditation. That's what you get from a group of people who ran a business school jumping in to a field they knew nothing about. I'm not sure if the problem has been resolved yet or not so definately look into it prior to going there. Overall though it was an excellent education we had an excellent rate of people passing boards on the 1st try. I only know of one person that didn't pass on the 1st try. Doesn't mean their aren't others I didn't here about. The down fall to this is with all the hub-bub that happened most of the instructors that taught the 1st class of us are no longer their so I can't speak for the quality of their instructors now. It is full time, but it's not to bad if you have courses to tranfer in. They also allowed my to transfer in my Microbiology, A&P I & II, Physchology and some other stuff. This is also a program with 8 week sections so I only had a few terms when I had more than one class. When I was there and assume it is still the same when you were accepted to the program you either chose AM or PM section. AM people attended class room courses from 730a - 1130a and had clinicals on 1st shift usually starting between 630a -730a until about 2p-3p. I was a PM person so I am a little more firmilar with these hours. We had classroom courses from 1230p to 400p and clinical from usually around 3- 10p. I think the very first clinical was 230p-930p. It worked really well for me because of working in a clinic I got to keep my job this way. There are four clinicals as well as a preceptorship so you get a lot of hands on experience. Some of the clinical instructors were awesome others really sucked. I managed to get one of the really good ones a few times, but I know she is no longer with Herzing. I also have more info on their course layout if you are curious. The one down fall to the program is you have to stick to their schedule, otherwise it is a year before they offer the course again. My advise is to make sure that you can tranfer both A&P, their was horrible and super hard from what my friends told me and was during the same term as med/surg nurses (one of the hardest nursing courses). Also be sure you have Microbiology out of the way becasue I'm told this class really sucked there also. It was expensive, I think I had like $33,000 in student loans, but as you mentioned you don't have to deal with the waiting list issue or at least you didn't when I went. You had to take an assessment test, turned in all previous college transcripts and I think a work history and they rated everyone based on their prior qualifications not the order you turned in your application. I think we only had two students who were straight out of high school. Everyone else had at the very least attended some college (most had previous degrees) and the vast majority already worked in health care in some aspect. Hope this answers some of your questions about Herzing. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. The other program you may want to check into is a think through Divine Savior hospital in Portage I'm pretty sure it is an ADN program, I'm not sure you may have to be an employee to be eligible. We had one person leave our program to finish up through them, but I know he was an employee there. Good luck finding a program. Erin

Marisa, I only had 5 non nurisng courses to take. They took Chem, microbiology, A&P I & II from MATC in Madison so I assume they will take them from Moriane Park. I also went to Marian for a semester way back in 1998 long before I ever went to nursing school so I got credit for the Philosphy, Theology and History classes I took back then. With all of those courses I think they had me listed a junior. It is an excelerated program so each class is 8 weeks with the exception of BioChem and Statistics. You can finish the BSN portion in two years if you stick to their schedule and I think it is an additional 2 years if you want to do the masters. It is actually an ADN to MSN program but they have an option to opt out at the BSN. My orginal plan was to go through the NP training, but my specialty doesn't use NPs so I'll probably stop at the BSN. The gen eds I have left are: History Statistics Bio Chem Bio Ethics I took Death, Dying & Hope which was my second theology course last fall. Here is a list of the courses I was able to transfer in: Professional Comp & Reascher Writing - Marian Fall 98 Asthetics, Values and Culture I - Lit course from MATC Asthetics, Values and Culture II - Music course from MATC World Hsitory - Marian 98 Foundations of Christian Experience - Marian 98 (the is like their 100 level theology course, I think everyone has to take this one) Philosophy and Values - Marian Fall 98 A&P I - MATC A&P II - MATC Psychology Elective - MATC Intro to Sociology - MATC Microbiology - MATC I have 3 degrees from MATC as well as my ADN from Herzing college so they had a lot of credits to weed through to find things to apply to their course requirements. I however feel they are pretty liberal with transfer credits. I also remember the 1st time I went their was after I got my Assoc. in marketing and I was going for another business degree and I went in a few credits shy of a junior. I have the entire course requirement list if you'd like to see it. Let me know. Hope this helps, Erin

The only reason I left Marian was that I moved out of Appleton back down to the Madison area and they did not have a section going in Madison at the time. The next Madison section starts in March of 2010. They do have a relatively regimented schedule they would like you to keep, but do work with you some to accomadate if it just doesn't work with your schedule, but it can be awhile until the course is offered again. Especially if you are at one of their distant campuses. You do have to complete all of the gen eds before you can take an of the nursing courses. It is an evening program which is nice if you have a day job. Most of the other BSN completion programs in the Madison area only offer classes during the day. Last year undergrad credits were $300/ credit verses $500/ credit at some of the others I have looked at. The only cons I came across was that you had to go to the local campus to make schedule changes, add/ withdraw from classes, ect. and you had to order your books ahead of time in order for them to be available for you at the "book store" at the Appleton campus. I say "book store" becaues although it was called that it was really just a big cabniet behind the main desk. The other thing I was they have an online area woth your syllabuses and things on it, but they didn't really explain how to use it very well ahead of time. This might be related to the fact that I didn't have to start with the 1st class they require because of transfer credits I came in about 3 months later so they may have explained it in one of the other courses. My plan at the time being is to start back at Marian again in March when it is available in Madison. If you think of any other questions please let me know. Overall it was a very positive experience.

I did the Summit general interest application they have on their website, which is the only posting I have seen for Summit so far. I received an email back thanking me for my interest and saying they will be sending email updates. That was may 15th and I haven't heard anything since. I've heard rumors of opening any where between Oct 2009 and early 2010 but nothing that I can confirm.

Sorry I'm not going to be much help then. I moved out of the Valley back in January because I couldn't find a job at all. My only advice is to check each hospitals website because they usually post openings there. Thedacare is www.thedacare.org Neenah & Appleton Affinity is www.affinity.org Appleton - there is also a link to Ministry here which has facilities in Stevens Point and Marshfield. You may also want to check Divine Savior in Portage which is www.dshealthcare.com Good Luck

What geographic area are you looking for?

May I ask which campus you attend?

I transferred in a bunch of classes. I will indicate them below in the course sequence I found from when I went through the program. Anything you can transfer in will make life much easier because there are some though classes that a together. I had no problems but I had some friends who really struggled, especially taking Pharm & Body structure together and Med/Surg & A&P together. I will also indicate the day the classes fell on (if I can find them) to give you an idea. As far as AM / PM goes there are two groups of 24 students that go through at the same time. When you enroll you either choose AM which is classroom from 730a-1130a with clinical during first shift hours or PM with classroom from 1230p-430p and clinical during second shift hours. The only way you are allowed to go in to the other section is of someone will trade with you. Course Sequence for 2008 Graduates Date Class Days July ‘06 Computer Applications Intro to Psych (transfer) Student Success (transfer) Sept ‘06 9/6-10/26 Body Structure (transfer) Pharmacology MWF TTh Nov ‘06 Fundamentals of Nursing Comp I (transfer) Jan ‘07 1/10-2/28 Clinical I (LTC) Life Spans MTW ThF Mar ‘07 3/5-4/24 Alterations Career Development (transfer) MW May ‘07 Clinical II (Med/Surg I) TWTh July ‘07 A & P (transfer) Med/Surg Nursing Critical Thinking (online) MW Sept ‘07 Mental Health & Community Speech (transfer) Microbiology (transfer) Nov ‘07 10/30-12/20 Clinical III (Med/Surg II) Nursing Managment TWF Th Jan ‘08 1/9-2/26 Clinical IV (OB/Psych) OB/Peds/Geri Cultural Diversity (online) MW TTh Mar ‘08 Clinical Internship The classes I took online were thru Herzing and I took them during other terms where my course load was easier. I think I took cultural diversity July ’06 and Critical thinking Nov ’06. Hope this gives you a good idea. If you have all the classes I did then the program really isn’t that tough. Most of the time you only have one “class” to concentrate on. Clinicals are mostly showing up and you have to write a care plan. Some small assignments, but nothing like the amount of time you’ll spend doing things for the classroom courses. If you have any other questions let me know.

I had 1 semester of chemistry from MATC, I also transferred in Microbiology & A&P 1 & 2 from MATC. The day to day is either 730- 1130 for the am group or 1230 - 430 for the pm group. You usually have class 2 - 5 days a week depending on the term. Term for most classes are 9 weeks long and you have 1 to 2 classes per term. I think there were a couple classes like Pharm that they were talikng about extending to 18 weeks. For clinical and you have 4 of them (LTC, Med/Surg I, Med/ Surg II, & OB/Pysch) AM people go from 730 until around 300 and pm people are from 230 or 300 until 930 or 1000 just like working second shift. Plus an internship (we had 200 hours I think they were planning on decreasing to 150). Everyones is different and you get about 12 weeks to complete it. I was in the PM group. When I went we started in July '06 and we finished the middle of April '08. You do go through the summer. The only breaks you get are 2 weeks over christmas and 2 weeks in the summer. There is also no flexiblty in the schedule, they only offer courses once a year. I probably still have the course lay out somewhere if you'd like to see it. The big thing to check on there is that they received their accredidation. They didn't have it yet when I graduated. There was also a lot of instructor turn over around the time I graduated so I don't know very much about the instructors they currently have. Good luck, Let me know if you have any other questions.

My advise no matter what program you choose is to start taking Chem, micro, ANP I & II now thru MATC they will transfer to almost any program you want to go to and you do not have to be enrolled in the nursing program to take them. This will lessen the number of courses you have to take once you find a program and will mean you don't have to take them and some of the more difficult nursing classes at the same time, which I have been told by people who had to do it, that it was horrible. In general I have found that with the MATC campuses if you go to one outside of Madison they are more understanding that you have a life outside of school. I took all four of these classes at Watertown. I did graduate from Herzing in there 1st class of nurses and they do have a pretty bad rep going at the moment. I will be honest that the accrediation business was not a fun process to deal with, but we did get an excellent education and the NCLEX pass rate was very high. Still don't know if they got their accredidation but they were supposed to have their NLN site visit the 2nd half of 2008. Now here is another pitfall they only have 1 or 2 of the original instructors that taught our class that still there and there is definately a learning curve to starting a new program. It is very expensive, there is no flexibilty to the schedule (courses are only offered once a year) and as previously noted I've heard it is not where you want to take ANP or Micro (you have to have Chem prior to admission). I don't have any first had information on this I took these at MATC. As far as getting a job as a graduate of Herzing initally the area hospitals were a little apprehesive and I was told by one HR person, about a month ago, that with the class I graduated in they only hired nurses who already worked in their facility in some other capacity, but they have been quite happy with those people and are now considering other Herzing graduates. Hope you find this information helpful

I have a friend that is currently in the program and I would like to enroll in the fall. She really likes it. It is like $500/ credit currently, but I paid more than that per credit for my ADN. They also have lots of locations and you can get classes during the day instead of the evening. I also went to Marian College (now University) for a while. It's in the evening the advantage there was it was only $300/credit for BSN classes and you can work straight toward your MSN if you want to.